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Automation is Democratizing Experimental Science (axios.com)
New advances are taking automation to the highest end of human endeavors, offering scientists a shot at some of the most intractable problems that have confounded them -- and along the way tipping a global balance to give upstarts like China a more level playing field in the lab. From a report: A combination of artificial intelligence and nimble robots are allowing scientists to do more, and be faster, than they ever could with mere human hands and brains. "We're in the middle of a paradigm shift, a time when the choice of experiments and the execution of experiments are not really things that people do," says Bob Murphy, the head of the computational biology department at Carnegie Mellon University.
Automated science is "moving the role of the scientist higher and higher up the food chain," says Murphy. Researchers are focusing their efforts on big-picture problem-solving rather than the nitty-gritty of running experiments. He says it will also allow scientists to take on more problems at once -- and solve big, lingering ones that are too complex to tackle right now. Starting next year, Murphy's department will offer students a master's degree in automated science, the university announced last week.
Automated science is "moving the role of the scientist higher and higher up the food chain," says Murphy. Researchers are focusing their efforts on big-picture problem-solving rather than the nitty-gritty of running experiments. He says it will also allow scientists to take on more problems at once -- and solve big, lingering ones that are too complex to tackle right now. Starting next year, Murphy's department will offer students a master's degree in automated science, the university announced last week.
But look at me still talking when there's science to do,
when I look out there it makes me glad I'm not you,
I've experiments to run
there is research to be done
on the people who are still alive
You guys are hilarious. China was doing science while Americans were still playing with bows and arrows.
Democracy gives an equal voice to unequal people.
That's not what this is doing. Rather, people are capitalizing on automation. This Capitalism, not democracy.
Is that where we get to vote what the results should be?
What will grad students do if experiments are automated?
Capitalism doesn't care who was first; it just cares who is most effective.
China is ineffective.
Even the best human descriptions of processes to generate the desired outcome can leave out minute details (like holding the vial at an incline of 45 degrees!). However, if you have an automated lab setup then you can simply share the instructions that were given to the machine that generated the desired result. Great for chemists, less so for psychologists. :P
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Science is not being "democratized", it's under attack. There is a worldwide, carefully crafted, meticulously orchestrated, deliberate war on science.
It's soldiers are the climate denialists, anti-vaxers, moon-landings-hoaxers, chemtrails-believers, flat-earthers.
It's generals are the corporate powers hell-bent on making sure that the people of earth can never be tought to think critically and rationnaly, that the only "truth" that they are told is the "truth" that will make them serve the corporate interests of their masters.
For centuries, science has been taking bites out of superstition, subjectivity, hear-say, dogmatism; the pilars of tyranny.
Now the would be tyrants are fighting back. This is nothing less than a full out war against not only science, but democracy, justice, human civilization itself.
If a robot can do your work, then your work is uninteresting.
Be glad that you're NOW free to pursue work that is actually interesting.
News flash: Democracy gives equal voice to both the fool and scholar.
One side is seeking more money and more political power over other people's lives.
The other side is having its career destroyed and even its social life decimated just for standing up and saying "I'm not sure I agree."
I know which side to back...
Wait. Giving unequal people and equal voice is pretty arbitrary. Like, why would you do that?
And, you know what's NOT arbitrary? The distribution of capital under voluntary trade.
So, once again, Democracy proves itself to be a dumb idea, and is self-contradictory like all dumb ideas. Thanks for pointing that out.
Let's be pen pals.
Automation science means absolute corporate and government control, the worst fascism possible.
It works for those scientist who straddle the divide between the time they had to learn to do it themselves and gained knowledge and experience doing so, and the the time they will have only "big picture" thoughts. For those who only learn in a big picture environment I doubt they will be able to have the big picture thoughts. More like big fantasies. And they will only be able to do what can be done by the equipment. How do they develop new lab techniques when they only buy lab equipment that does certain things? "Why CAN'T the equipment do this?"
E Proelio Veritas.
Not democracy.
When you give each fool a voice equal to that of a scholar, well guess what? You end up with the foolish majority silencing the scholarly minority. 2 Wolves, 1 cup.
just like in industrial applications, automation plays into hands of developed countries. human work is more expensive there.